Interview with Restaurant Design Associates
Judith Addyman, started Restaurant Design Associates in 2007 with her husband.
The company design, build and fit out commercial catering facilities at a range of venues including restaurants, kitchens, coffee shops, food retailing establishments, hotels, medical buildings and schools.
They have contracts all over the country including Compass plc, the world's largest contract catering organisation, Carillion, Kier, NHS Trust, BAM and education establishments, and are located on Monkton Business Park.
When did you start-up?
My husband and I set up the business in March 2007. Having worked with my husband in the construction industry for over 20 years, we both had a great amount of experience to bring to the business. My three sons are now also employed in the business, which we think of as a family run business, and we have a very dedicated team of staff. Our family dog is also a regular in the office!
Where are you based?
We relocated to Apollo Court, on Monkton Business Park last year, having initially started up in the Quadrus Centre, Boldon. We moved to larger premises as the business was growing and we had expansion plans - it's good to feel we have jumped up the ladder, and have our own premises. I was born and brought up in Jarrow, so it's nice to put something back into the local community - a lot of our employees are from the South Tyneside area.
How has your business grown since you first started it?
The business has grown steadily since we started up. We have more than quadrupled our turnover from year one and have gone from employing 6 people to now having 16. We have secured a number of new contracts - and obviously the move to our new premises has enabled this to happen.
How do you find doing business in South Tyneside?
I think South Tyneside is a great place to do business - Monkton Business Park in particular is an ideal location for our business with great accessibility. The Park has developed over recent years into a hub for construction sector businesses, which is good for us too. Monkton Business Park Forum has been set up, and this looks at issues which are common to companies located on it, such as security, faster broadband, landscaping and cleaning, our business is a member of this.
I am also the Chair of the South Tyneside Construction Forum, which has over 40 members who are local construction sector businesses, and meet on a bi-monthly basis. The Forum aims to keep businesses informed of real tender opportunities, and has recently had presentations from GRAHAM Construction, the main contractors for the Pier Parade Leisure Development and Robertsons for the South Tyneside Green Incubator.
As a company we try to use local suppliers for our day to day needs, however due to our work being carried out all over the country, we are sometimes obliged to use companies outside of the area.
What changes, has your business seen over recent years, particularly in light of the recession?
Fortunately, our business has not been affected too much by the recession. A lot of our work is done in public sector buildings, which have obviously suffered cut backs, however most of these organisations outsource their catering contracts to private companies so this area of work has not been affected. We are also fortunate that people are always going to need to eat, therefore there will always be a demand for our services.
What has been your biggest business challenge and what did you learn from it?
We have been lucky in that our main challenge has been managing and planning for growth. We took the gamble to move to new premises and take on additional staff, which we had to do if we wanted to expand, which is always a risk. We always make sure we are geared up to cope with the work we take on by very careful planning as failure to do this would result in our contracts not being delivered to our high standards.
Where do you hope to be in 2 years time?
We are extremely pleased with how our business has developed, I would never have dreamt two years ago, that we would be in the position we are now. Our biggest objective now, is to sustain our turnover and client base, and maintain the success we have created.
